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The Canine in Conversation
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animation of a lion's tale morphing into a dog's head
figure 1  

 

better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. Don't be too ambitious.reference 1

Similar to “better to be a big frog in a small pond than a small frog in a big one,” or something like that. I guess that the tail is the less dignified part of any creature and the head, its most desirable. This proverbial dog is not widely in use as far as I can determine, however it remains quickly comprehended. It appears not to participate in the typical dog-cat dualism despite the implicit reference to the canine-feline relationship.

1. Kim, Heesop. Proverbs. 1999. Accessed Sep 2 2002 from http:// www.unn.ac.uk/ ~i930043/ prov-002.html.

 

 
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About the illustration: An animation by the author showing the tail of a lion morphing into a dog's head.
cf: dog is to man as cat is to woman; sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant Last updated: February 8, 2008
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